Thursday, December 29, 2011

Hooray! Hooray!
The apricots are ready.
We traipsed over to our "allotment" (Pendlebury Hill) yesterday to work on the rose garden and
we were pleasantly surprised to see little orange dots all over the apricot tree.

Below is the tree last year - overgrown with grass and weeds.
Lots of newspaper and lots of pea straw and this year we have around 15 kg of fruit!

Apricot grading has commenced,
to be followed by jam making, cake-baking and preserves.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Well, the onions have been in for 6 months and are ready to come up.
The smelly ones were ready first.

The non-smelly ones were a bit slower and some developed bull necks.
Have since read this (by Peter Cundall - he always has the best tips) and understand the reason.
Note to self - read article again next year before planting.
Now to cure them and store them away.

I know everyone says how much tastier home-grown vegies are,
but Vince and I were both surprised by the "high degree of niceness" of home-grown onions compared to the store bought ones.
Kinda crisper and fresher.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Innit pretty now?
It's my favourite place at the moment to sit in the garden and hang out with my peeps
(note tennis ball under table).
And I love that most of it is second-hand!
Our $2 bbq table from the tip.
A transplanted rose from the previous owners.
A white nectarine tree struck for us by Uncle Tony or Uncle Pino (they both struck one for me and I can't remember who did this one).
My old deckchairs from Mum & Dad from 1996.
My chandelier from the reclaim shop (can you see it hanging in there?)
The geraniums are struck from cuttings from the house we stay in at Port Fairy.
Vince grew our beautiful lawn from runners he collected from overgrown footpaths.
I dunno if you can see it in there Natalie, but behind one of those chairs is the white daisy which you struck for me.
My chair covers - half-price on sale!
My blue and white pot from the Reject Shop.
It's so satisfying to bodge something up from stuff you can find and free stuff you are given.

I love too - that now, this one little corner is so productive.
We chopped out those awful Pittosporum trees and now we have
4 fruit trees (peach, loquat, white nectarine, mulberry)
herbs - rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, sage, mint.
And there are roses for picking - azaleas, daisies, geranium, statice, gazanias and nasturtiums.
It's amazing how much you can shove into a couple of square metres!

I am.....

A glutton for punishment - 5 gardens - ridiculous!But I LOVE it!Sometimes it drives me bonkers but it's absolutely exhilarating trying to keep on top of it all and continue to create and dream.I have 3 gardens in south-west Victoria.1 garden in Melbourne, Victoria.And 1 garden in south-east Queensland.A constant source of joy, satisfaction and soul-soothing.